A sculpture called “Going Home,” depicting an angel carrying a dead soldier heavenward, is about to find a new home in Sioux Falls.
The City Council will decide Monday night whether to accept the gift of the statue from the family and friends of fallen Army Special Forces Green Beret Robb Rolfing.
If accepted – and the resolution is expected to pass easily – the statue will find its way to the city’s Veterans Memorial Park, where it will honor all Sioux Falls area service members killed in battle.
“I can’t imagine anyone opposed to it,” Councilor Vernon Brown said of the gift. “It seems like a fitting tribute.”
To be able to present the sculpture to the city is particularly meaningful to Rolfing’s family. Rex and Margie Rolfing had just enjoyed an anniversary meal at Minervas with their two other children, T.J. and Tiffany, on June 29 when they noticed the angel carrying the soldier for the first time among all the other artwork on display along the streets of downtown Sioux Falls.
At virtually the very moment they saw it, 29-year-old Staff Sgt. Robb Rolfing was dying of wounds he received after taking small-arms fire in a southern neighborhood of Baghdad.
“It still hurts a lot,” Rex Rolfing said. “But it’s also a great honor to know that we could do something that helps other people honor their fallen loved ones. It’s a tribute to all the people who have helped to keep this country great.”
To give the gift, the Rolfings and others need to raise between $150,000 and $175,000. That will pay to enlarge the sculpture to seven-eighths life size, and for a platform on which to set it. It also will pay for benches and landscaping around the sculpture.
Donations can be made to the "SFACF Going Home Project"
Send or drop off your donation to the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, 300 N Phillips Avenue, Suite 102, Sioux Falls, 57104.
